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Well, I went to the range yesterday. I hit American Shooting Center, which was on my way back to the office. I was testing out a Romanian Toarev that I picked up last week. I hate the safety on it, but it is functional, and doesn't seem to get in the way much. I preferred the one the Chinese put on their import guns in the 1990s, as it can be easily removed if you want, and it is a bit more out of the way. Anyway, the Romanian version is a far better shooter than my chinese ones are. I was actually impressed with it. It shot well with both the Seller and Bellot ammunition and the Winchester Metric version. At 10 yards I was able to keep them all in the black on the regular 5 bullseye range targets. Not bad considering the rudimentary nature of the sights on these guns. What surprised me more was how it worked with the Magsafes. I have all kinds of Magsafe ammo for a bunch of my different pistols. None of which I have ever shot, because, well, I'm a cheap b@$t@rd at heart. I figured that since I was going to the range, and I had 3 blister packs of 7.62x25 Magsafes, I could test at least one pack to see how it works. Well, it works. At 10 yards, the first 3 shots made one slightly ragged .30 caliber hole. 
It was the tightest 3 shot group I have EVER shot from a pistol in 25 years. I thought I had missed with the second and third shots until I brought the target in to check it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep the remaining shots as close. The final 8 shot group opened up to just under 2 1/4 inches. But I think that was more me being excited than the ammo or gun. The gun fed and cycled the rounds perfectly, and the recoil was slightly less than the regular rounds. I have to say, I definately liked them.
Well, that was fun, but the really interesting things happened on the way out. They were pretty well stripped when it came to guns. I did a quick once-through, and didn't see anything I really had to have. They had a couple of Browning semi-auto shotguns that were C&R, and amazingly, both of the clerks actually knew about the C&R/trust loophole for making SBS. That shocked the hell out of me, as I am used to getting the usual "That ain't legal here..." response from gun store people whenever anything like OLLs or C&Rs or anything else like that come up in conversation. So we were discussing Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde fame's choice of a sawed-off browning, and what the options were for cutting one down to match it if I got the tax stamps. The (former) gunsmith who works there thought that it was possible, but impractical. Alas, he had to throw cold water on our rather lengthy discussion with that tidbit of reality. He was right, it wouldn't be all that useful of a gun, but that really isn't the point. It would be a hoot to play with, and besides, it is always fun getting something that I used to think was illegal. (sigh)
Well, I packed up and was heading out when I spotted an oddball tucked in the back of one of the pistol cases. I almost walked out, but I figure what the hell. I went over and saw a 1907 Savage in fairly good condition. So I called the clerk back out of the back room, and decided to have a look at it. Now, I have always liked old pistols. Especially odd old pistols. And the savage has always been fairly high on my list of "someday" guns. But it has been over 10 years since I have seen one in real life. And while $279 isn't all that much, my toy budget has been severely depleted after the Tokarev last week, and a ton of parts for project guns over the past few months. I handled the Savage, and fiddled with it, but figured I would pass. Until the gunsmith pointed out that it wasn't the .32 version. It was a very early .380 version. Less than 5% of the 1907 models were .380. Crap. It had just come in a few hours before, and with that article on 1907s last month in SGN, I knew it wouldn't last for very much longer. After much hemming and hawwing on my part, I put it away on layaway. It doesn't come off of pawn shop hold for a month, so they were ok with that. So I am now the somewhat reluctant soon to be owner of a nifty pistol. The most amazing thing, as far as I am concerned, was my wife's reaction. Yes, I told her. I explained that it was a really, really uncommon pistol, and that I had to get it or it would have disappeared. She was actually very understanding. That makes me worry. I am now dreading coming home and finding another horse, and my wife standing there innocently explaining that she just had to get it right then, or it would have disappeared. Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
-Mb
It was the tightest 3 shot group I have EVER shot from a pistol in 25 years. I thought I had missed with the second and third shots until I brought the target in to check it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to keep the remaining shots as close. The final 8 shot group opened up to just under 2 1/4 inches. But I think that was more me being excited than the ammo or gun. The gun fed and cycled the rounds perfectly, and the recoil was slightly less than the regular rounds. I have to say, I definately liked them.Well, that was fun, but the really interesting things happened on the way out. They were pretty well stripped when it came to guns. I did a quick once-through, and didn't see anything I really had to have. They had a couple of Browning semi-auto shotguns that were C&R, and amazingly, both of the clerks actually knew about the C&R/trust loophole for making SBS. That shocked the hell out of me, as I am used to getting the usual "That ain't legal here..." response from gun store people whenever anything like OLLs or C&Rs or anything else like that come up in conversation. So we were discussing Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde fame's choice of a sawed-off browning, and what the options were for cutting one down to match it if I got the tax stamps. The (former) gunsmith who works there thought that it was possible, but impractical. Alas, he had to throw cold water on our rather lengthy discussion with that tidbit of reality. He was right, it wouldn't be all that useful of a gun, but that really isn't the point. It would be a hoot to play with, and besides, it is always fun getting something that I used to think was illegal. (sigh)
Well, I packed up and was heading out when I spotted an oddball tucked in the back of one of the pistol cases. I almost walked out, but I figure what the hell. I went over and saw a 1907 Savage in fairly good condition. So I called the clerk back out of the back room, and decided to have a look at it. Now, I have always liked old pistols. Especially odd old pistols. And the savage has always been fairly high on my list of "someday" guns. But it has been over 10 years since I have seen one in real life. And while $279 isn't all that much, my toy budget has been severely depleted after the Tokarev last week, and a ton of parts for project guns over the past few months. I handled the Savage, and fiddled with it, but figured I would pass. Until the gunsmith pointed out that it wasn't the .32 version. It was a very early .380 version. Less than 5% of the 1907 models were .380. Crap. It had just come in a few hours before, and with that article on 1907s last month in SGN, I knew it wouldn't last for very much longer. After much hemming and hawwing on my part, I put it away on layaway. It doesn't come off of pawn shop hold for a month, so they were ok with that. So I am now the somewhat reluctant soon to be owner of a nifty pistol. The most amazing thing, as far as I am concerned, was my wife's reaction. Yes, I told her. I explained that it was a really, really uncommon pistol, and that I had to get it or it would have disappeared. She was actually very understanding. That makes me worry. I am now dreading coming home and finding another horse, and my wife standing there innocently explaining that she just had to get it right then, or it would have disappeared. Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
-Mb
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